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Mom vs. Dad
When One Is Vegetarian and the Other Is Not
By Johnathon Allen
"Another level of compromise might be to say that the family is going to be mostly vegan, but not 100 percent. They may decide to still adhere to the Saturday night tradition of having cheese pizza if the father – or children – feel strongly about it."
Many of the dietary compromises that must be struck will depend, in large part, on what the parent's reasons are for choosing a vegetarian or carnivorous diet. Messina suggests that parents and children should openly discuss their eating decisions and adapt accordingly.
"Since non-vegetarians can eat foods without meat, it's often up to them to do the compromising," says Anne Cochran, a dietitian from Albany, N.Y. "Luckily, there are a number of dishes that can be made to accommodate both vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets. Pizza is a good meal because vegans can use soy cheese on half of it, for example, and the toppings can be custom tailored to personal tastes. Other dishes that can be made to order like shish kabobs, tacos and pasta are also good because they allow for meat and non-meat substitutes like tempeh or tofu to be added at the last minute.